He smiled. “Can’t surf here. The reef…”
He didn’t finish because she couldn’t let him. She needed to kiss him, to feel him inside her. And damned if she wanted to wait another minute.
The only thing that distracted Grier from his rage and fury was Fiona. Holding her. Kissing her. Loving her. Otherwise, the anger vibrated through him, so out of control he could hardly contain it or breathe through it. Only Fiona quieted that beast.
And he needed her now, her body against his, her soft sighs in his ear, the surrender between them. Her eyes, half-lidded and sparkling with desire, closed when he ran his finger along her jaw. She tilted her head back, exposing a long line of skin and bringing their lower bodies closer, so close. “Swim with me?”
He almost swallowed his tongue. “You want to swim now?” Not at all what he had in mind until she stepped back and stripped off her shirt, then stepped out of her shorts and walked toward the water. She didn’t mean swim at all, the little vixen. And thank God for it.
When she reached the edge where the water met a drop-off, she dove in and Grier waited until she surfaced before he even blinked. Before he could even blink.
“You coming in?”
Oh, yeah. God, yeah. It would take an army to keep him out. He walked toward the water, shedding the few articles of clothing he wore, then dove in. The water was warm, like silk along his skin. Or he’d thought so until he pulled Fiona close. She felt like silk. After she kissed him until he couldn’t think straight, she swam away, turned and crooked a finger. “Come on.” She led him to the other side of the cove where the sun shined on a formation of smooth flat rocks. She climbed out of the water and laid back on the one closest to them, supporting herself on her elbows. He’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life. If it killed him, he would make sure no one ever hurt her again. But first…
He pulled himself up next to her, the sun warm and irrelevant. The wind cool and unimportant. Nothing but this moment with Fiona mattered.
“I love you.” He lowered his head and kissed her, soft at first, slow, then desperate and frenzied. His hand skimmed over her rib cage, down to curl into her hip and urge her on top of him. He needed too much, wanted too much, and she would get hurt if he left her with her back against the rock.
She guided his hands, captured his mouth, joined them and moved slowly, each slide down his cock as agonizing as it was perfect, until he couldn’t do more than move his hips and moan.
When he let go, she came with him, held on to him as tightly as he held her. Before his world settled, she rolled away and laid her hand over her stomach. “I know you have to go.”
He nodded, not really wanting to start round two of their argument just yet.
“Just make sure you come back to me, okay?” Her voice cracked but she held her head up, tears glittering in her eyes.
“I promise.” Grier couldn’t move. He didn’t want to. If these were the last minutes they were to have in God knew how long, he didn’t want to waste even one of them. He stretched beside her and leaned in.
Fiona chuckled, but not one damned thing about this was funny. How he’d managed to get a sunburn on his ass on a day he had to sit on a plane for hours and hours was beyond comprehension. Not really since he’d spent a good number of hours with his ass exposed to direct sunlight while he used his body to love Fiona.
“Can you please just rub the aloe on me? Please?” He glared over his shoulder as her lips twitched. “Fiona?”
“Of course.”
Maybe having her hands on his butt wasn’t such a fine idea. Wasn’t that how this got started in the first place?
Her touch, so soft and tentative made him want to turn and… no. The last thing he needed was an untimely boner. Absolutely no time for this. He had a flight to catch. A brother to kill. Sunburns and sex did not fit into the schedule, but his body didn’t give a shit about timelines or funeral planning. It liked her hands smoothing that gel on his skin. It loved the skim of her fingers, needed more.
But then his brain forced all his doubts to the front. Had she manipulated him into all that sex to keep him here, to make sure he missed his flight?
His stomach clenched and he turned to face her. “You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”
She sat back and wiped her hands on a towel. “I like to think so. In general, yeah.” She quirked an eyebrow. “We aren’t talking generalities, are we?”
So cool and collected. But she didn’t understand, and for once her touch, her soft voice, even the love he felt for her couldn’t overcome his fury. “You did this, didn’t you?” He pointed to his ass.
She scoffed. “Doggie style, and by the way, I hate that you call it that, was all your idea, Einstein. All three times. In a cove. By crystal clear water that acts like a mirror to reflect the sun.” Her own brand of anger flashed in her eyes and across the tight line of her mouth.
He’d just wanted her so bad. And now, if he didn’t make this right, which he didn’t have time for, their last words before he left would be angry.
“I’m sorry.” He turned on his side to face her and reached to twirl a strand of coppery hair around his finger. “I know you weren’t trying to distract me from leaving.”
She chuckled again and shook her head. “You are… not so smart. I was trying to distract you, but I knew it wouldn’t work. I had a good time trying though.” She clicked her tongue against her teeth and winked. “The sunburn maybe is some… karmic justice for leaving me here without you. But totally your own fault.”
He nodded and stood to pull up his jeans. The scratch of cotton and denim against his skin felt like sandpaper and he flinched. “Not fun.”
She grinned. “Justice.” When she turned away, she took a long breath.
He had to make this better. “Every time I sit or move, I’m gonna remember this day.” The whole thing. The smiles, the touching, the talking and loving. “I love you, Fiona.” He tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged until their breaths mingled and she leaned her forehead against his chest.
“I love you, too.”
It had been weeks since he’d heard her say it. Months maybe. And his heart did a little dance behind his ribcage.
Leaving her to make sure they were safe made sense on every level except the one where his heart lived. And that was another thing Tyler Sedotal would pay for. From here on, Grier would keep track of every minute he was away from Fiona and London and add them to Sedotal’s tab. And by the time he was finished killing him, there wouldn’t be anything left to be found.
Fiona slept alone. Woke alone. Drank her coffee alone. This wasn’t what she had signed up for. Not at all. Over the last few months, everything had gone to hell, and she was tired of not having control of her own destiny. From the minute that gang of scummy miscreants took her, she hadn’t had control of anything. And it was time she changed that.
She stared at the burner phone. Okay. So, she’d promised Grier she wouldn’t call, she would wait for him to make sure it was secure. And she’d sworn to him she wouldn’t hop on the next plane out and show up at the clubhouse. But she hadn’t said a damned thing about shooting a text to Hamilton, her friend, who she missed. Nothing wrong with talking to a friend she missed.